About Me

Pages

Monday, December 11, 2017

Thanks for visiting. I've been working on and off the fourth book to Polaris. Yue will definitely be one of the routes but I'm still debating who to set him up against, Ying or Qing Hai. Her OTP, Bai Hu, keeps poking his head into the story but he can't be Yue's rival since he's already had his chance! Qing Hai seems plausible because he's a warm character in contrast to Yue's distant persona but I really wanted that scene at the palace where she first chooses a "guardian" to be the split between Hai, Hu and Yue. So, I guess Ying would have to be it though I'm having a hard time portraying his character. From the third book, Ying was shown to be serious, temperamental, acts like a curmudgeon-y old man, but also silly in his own way. He doesn't get along with the MC and thinks she's kind of stupid. On top of that, Ying is pretty manipulative. Both men also like the "pure maiden" type. They're both kind of goofy too.

That leaves the MC choosing between a curmudgeon-y manipulator and a distant persona who brushes her off and hardly ever speaks his mind. Not much of a choice for the MC either way... on the surface anyhow. This is going to take a lot of pages to develop both relationships... I keep looking at the page count and already it's at 250. I really don't want another 800 page Empress of Ning type book and really, it needs to be 500 or less but who am I kidding? That's not going to happen. I hate large books because it deters readers from giving it a chance but I also don't want to limit my writing and confine the characters. Guess I'll figure it out as I go along.

This book will be a little different from the others in that the Bei Ling-Nan Rong conflict won't begin with Su Jian's invasion, though he's involved of course. The Huang Nu bloodline, first mentioned in Dui's True Ending will also play a key role in Yue's route. I'm going to tone down Bao Lai's demon slayer ability and force her to use her head more, like in the first two books.

And finally, I get to write about Yue's quirkiness which I've had in my head for a long time... and probably should have written down sooner since I've forgotten most of it. His quirkiness is liken to being OCD. Now, I was, or rather am still though not quite as bad, OCD. Some people associate OCD as things needing to be in order; ie, neat freak. OCD though, at least in my case, is the compulsion to do things certain ways or a certain number of times to avoid something undesirable from happening. It doesn't always make sense when said aloud, but it makes sense mentally. I'm not going to make Yue super OCD as I was back in my younger years but I'll give him some of those attributes along with a shyness/embarrassment stemmed from acknowledgement that the illogical quirks exist. You'll see from one chapter where they enter a restaurant and he'll sit on the edge of a chair because the seat is dirty but Yue won't change seats out because he's afraid to cause a scene. At other times, he'll come home and repeat a series of actions. Or, he'll blame himself for something bad happening because he derailed from a normal routine even though one couldn't have caused the other. He's also obsessed with cleanliness too but that reason you'll have to read for yourself.

As of now, I don't have an estimate for when the book will be done. This is going to take a while. I'm hoping before July of next year. Check back for updates.

Friday, December 1, 2017

Just entered my scenario for Okko's Rental Boyfriend otome writing contest. I went with Kotaro since he's a cutie and I can keep it clean unlike say, writing about Takeomi or Haruka. The hardest part was keeping it under 700 words. Had to change my story around to make it fit. Ended with exactly 700 words. Took me about 1-2 hrs but I was also playing on my tablet a little.

If you still haven't submitted your entry, there's still time. December 6th is the last day.

Wednesday, November 29, 2017

This is a repeat/reminder to those interested in writing a mini scenario for an otome game. Okko Sweet Romance has a special contest for their Rental Boyfriend otome. If you win, they'll publish your idea as one of their gacha short stories and also give you free points (platinum) for the specialty items that usually cost real money. Your story will be published to thousands who play the game.

All you have to do is write a special scenario, Christmas theme, for the MC and one of the guys from the otome. 700 words max and submit it by December 6th. Submit scripts (preferably Mword) to support_en@okko.jp with appropriate headers.

I wasn't going to but now I'm thinking about it. Would be fun. Takeomi and Taisuke are my favs but Kotaro seems a cute route to write.

I'm encouraging all otome lovers who like the Rental BFs series to enter. Go for it! You never know until you try!

Thursday, November 23, 2017

I just got back from Black Friday/Brown Thursday Shopping. The line outside of JCPenney was insanely long but once the doors opened, things went smoothly. Only got $10 off coupon. Oh well, free money, no complaints. Macy's didn't have as many people as I thought at opening time but the parking lot was full when I left an hour later. In case you haven't gone, the cashier told me those "free" items after rebates are limited to 3 per household (address). Didn't know that. Guess I better borrow a friend's address. ;)

Below are a couple of presents I got for myself. The bcbgmaxazria perfume was $12 (free after rebate) and the Gianni Bernini cubic zicronia set is $19.99 (original tag says $125).

Did you find anything good at Black Friday/Brown Thursday this year? Please post below.

PS: if you're a Loot Crate fan, 30% off all crates with coupon code CYBERSAVINGS and 55% off Loot Vault with code BlackFriday.